Book Spotlight @ReadNobels: One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn / guiltless reading

I'm hosting the first ever Read the Nobels 2016 Reading Challenge. You can join in any time of the year and all it takes is to read one book written by a Nobel Prize for Literature laureate. You can sign up HERE. This is part of a bigger, perpetual challenge. If you'd like to get more Nobel Prize winning literature in your TBRs in your lifetime, check out the Read the Nobels blog.

Every few weeks, I feature a book and/or a Nobel Prize for Literature Laureate. Here's our third featured book, twice reviewed on the Read the Nobels blog:

One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970 (Russian)...
"for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature" (nobelprize.org).

Synopsis of One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: This brutal, shattering glimpse of the fate of millions of Russians under Stalin shook Russia and shocked the world when it first appeared. Discover the importance of a piece of bread or an extra bowl of soup, the incredible luxury of a book, the ingenious possibilities of a nail, a piece of string or a single match in a world where survival is all. Here safety, warmth and food are the first objectives. Reading it, you enter a world of incarceration, brutality, hard manual labour and freezing cold - and participate in the struggle of men to survive both the terrible rigours of nature and the inhumanity of the system that defines their conditions of life.

Review snippets from Read the Nobels

Don't forget to check out the links for full reviews:

In my opinion One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn counts among the best classics of world literature although it neither is the first nor the last fiction work revolving around the horrors lived in forced labour camps of a despotic system. - Edith, Edith's Miscellany

I liked this novel. I think it's hard to pinpoint what's particularly unique or special, but it is a straightforward and well told story. There seems to be such wonderful simplicity in the prose that gets across the character and the experience of camp life so well. - Aquatique

Find out more about Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

Other books by Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn:

An Incident at Krechetovka Station (novella).
Matryona's Place (novella).
For the Good of the Cause (novella).
The First Circle (novel)
Cancer Ward (novel)

Author photo: By Verhoeff, Bert / Anefo - [1] Dutch National Archives, The Hague, Fotocollectie Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau (ANEFO), 1945-1989, Nummer toegang 2.24.01.05 Bestanddeelnummer 927-0019, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29177274